Abstract
This article seeks to investigate the motif of « the five trees of Paradise, » famous for being found in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas (logion 19). After looking closely at the characteristics of the five trees found in the Gospel of Thomas, I will shift my attention to other texts where the motif is attested. Coming from various sources, the Bible, the Jewish tradition, the intertestamental literature, the Gnostic literature, and Manichaeism, these other attestations of the motif of the five trees will help to get a larger perspective and contribute to a better understanding of the motif in general. With the help of all the evidence that will be gathered, I will finally see if it is possible to speculate on the origin and development of the motif of the five trees of Paradise in Antiquity.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
